Pioneer announced today its renewed lineup of the CYBER NAVI car navigation systems for the Japanese market.

The new lineup consists of three models: The AVIC-VH9900 is a 1-DIN+1-DIN DSP-control AV navigation auto server with built-in 7-inch wide VGA touch-screen monitor. The AVIC-ZH9900 is a 2-DIN DSP-control AV navigation auto server with a built-in 7-inch wide VGA touch-screen monitor. The AVIC-H9900 is a 1-DIN navigation system (without a monitor). The former 2 models are also equipped with a built-in terrestrial digital TV tuner.

The Japanese company also announced the Air Navi AVIC-T20, a portable car navigation system that supports a communications module, which allows users to enjoy a wealth of useful driving information contents provided by communications services both prior to and during drive. Pioneer plans to launch the new Air Navi AVIC-T20 in Japan in late June, 2009 with no retail price suggested.

- "Smart Loop traffic congestion information" now covers all roads that are displayed with 500m scale (excluding minor streets narrower than 5.5m) to realize more precise route search. The coverage area of the Smart Loop congestion information has been expanded from a length of approximately 330,000 km to 700,000 km. Compared with the VICS congestion information service that covers approximately 70,000 km long, the new navigation systems can cover 10 times the distance.

- Real-time road data update , which is included in the latest-data upgrade service via download provided free for 3 years, notifies the opening of new roads by a message appearing on the navigation screen. Via broadband home networks, a mobile phone or a dedicated communications module, the user can reflect new road data in the navigation map easily and immediately.

- Photoremo@Navi technology, which Pioneer has developed in cooperation with Sharp, allows the new navigation systems to interact with Photoremo@Navi-compatible mobile phones to be marketed this summer and beyond using the optional Bluetooth? unit ND-BT10. This feature is used to set the navigation systems to automatically begin route searches based on the POI (places of interest) data transferred from compatible mobile phones, to check unread e-mail and missed calls in the mobile phones on the car navigation screen, and so on.

- DSRC (Dedicated Short-Range Communications)-applied services, as next-generation ITS services, will be available in tandem with the soon-to-be-released DSRC unit ND-DSRC1 (optionally available). The services will include the 5.8-GHz VICS Service which provides safety driving assist information in addition to traffic congestion information primarily on expressways, the DSRC Charge Settling Service*3 that enables the payment of parking fees with IC credit cards via wireless communications with drivers onboard the cars.

- Improved search. "In order of relevance" has been added to the sort key in "Multi Search." This enables the input of desired words and can be operated like web searches. Search results are displayed in order of those closest to the number of characters that have been entered.

"AND search" and "Pinpoint search", commonly used in web search, are also available. "Pinpoint search" enables precise searches by entering full addresses. Like a mobile phone, a numeric keypad can also be used for enhanced ease of operation and search.

The "Gas Station Price Information" is available via communication services. It makes searches over the network to display a list of stations with the cheapest gas price station at its top.

The picture quality of the 7.0-inch wide VGA monitor has been also improved especially when it is viewed from higher positions. When a DVD or other video sources are viewed on the monitor from 30 degree or higher positions, the conventional problem of unclear, dark images - a phenomenon where the gradation of images cannot be correctly rendered - has been significantly reduced. Sound quality has been remarkably improved as well by carefully selecting quality parts - ex. replacing power supply capacitors around the power amplifier with dedicated audio capacitors.

ATRAC Advanced Lossless is used as the codec to record CDs onto the system's hard disk to achieve high sound quality recordings that retain the sound quality of the original CDs. Data is compressed to 50% of that of the original CD without the loss of any musical information. This enables the recordings of greater numbers of musical tunes in linear PCM equivalent high sound quality.

The Pioneer Cyber Navi car navigation systems AVIC-VH9900, AVIC-ZH9900, and AVIC-H9900 will be available in late May, 2009 for suggested retail prices of 378,000 yen, 357,000 yen, and 189,000 yen (including tax), respectively.

New AIR NAVI Portable Car Navigation System

The AVIC-T20 offers a wealth of functions, including easier access to and use of information services with the "Widget" function, which is the first in car navigation system. This feature allows users to view dynamic information-service content directly on the navigation screen by selecting from dedicated Widget icons on the map screen.

The new Air Navi navigation system is equipped with a 5.8-inch wide VGA monitor and a wealth of audiovisual functions including one-segment terrestrial digital TV tuner.

The map data design has been improved in clarity and visibility through reviewing map screen background, number of map notes, etc.

Response times and listing speeds for information services, especially Gasoline Price Information, have been reduced to improve basic operation.

An in-car cigarette lighter socket for power source and detachable function for easy portability.